City-County Task Force Finds $11 Million In Savings

CHICAGO (CBS) — A task force assigned with finding ways for Chicago and Cook County to save money by joining efforts has apparently found some.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Dave Marsett reports, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Tuesday that during its first three months, the task force found $11 million in savings for 2012.

The savings include $4 million in custodial costs, $1 million in facilities maintenance, $1.1 million in information technology support services, and $2.9 million in contract procurement.

“We are pursuing every option to promote good government and provide better services for taxpayers, which will result in $11 million in savings of taxpayer dollars for 2012,” Emanuel said in a news release. “We’re not going to stop there, and will continue to look for opportunities to provide better, more efficient services to our residents.

Added Preckwinkle in the release: “This committee is focused on finding areas of collaboration. This means not only looking for additional savings for taxpayers, but also finding other areas for cooperation to improve services for residents.”

The task force expects to find savings of $66 million to $140 million by 2014.